Intentions to Marry, 1887

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840399, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 070

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1887 Registrar A. de L. Potterton

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

7 February 1887

Hori Taramana Hei Watene
Ramarihi Utu Ku

Hori Taramana Hei Watene
Ramarihi Utuku
💍 1887/2040

Bachelor
Spinster

Interpreter

26 years
18 years

Kiri Kiri
Kiri Kiri

26 years
18 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

87/174

Horina Utuku, mother of minor

7 February 1887

A. de C Potterton, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	7 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hori Taramana Hei Watene	Ramarihi Utu Ku
BDM Match (93%)	Hori Taramana Hei Watene	Ramarihi Utuku
	💍 1887/2040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Interpreter
Age	26 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Kiri Kiri	Kiri Kiri
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	87/174
Consent	Horina Utuku, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	7 February 1887
Officiating Minister	A. de C Potterton, Registrar

12 February 1887

Edwin Richard Mitchell
Fanny Elizabeth Bennett

Edwin Richard Mitchell
Fanny Elizabeth Bennett
💍 1887/2037

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23 years
21 years

Puriri
Puriri

2 years
17 years

St. George's Church, Thames

87/171

12 February 1887

Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	12 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Richard Mitchell	Fanny Elizabeth Bennett
	💍 1887/2037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	2 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	87/171
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England

26 February 1887

Alfred James Rowe
Flora Beatrice Oliphant Stewart

Alfred James Rowe
Flora Beatrice Oliphant Stewart
💍 1887/2038

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

26 years
21 years

Davy St.
Kiri Kiri

2 years
4 years

St. George's Church, Thames

87/172

26 February 1887

Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	26 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Rowe	Flora Beatrice Oliphant Stewart
	💍 1887/2038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Davy St.	Kiri Kiri
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	87/172
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England

4 March 1887

Philip Alfred Weston
Mary Agnes Bagnall

Philip Alfred Weston
Mary Agnes Bagnall
💍 1887/1864

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

30 years
21 years

Turua
Turua

3 years
14 years

St. George's Church, Thames

87/3560

4 March 1887

Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	4 March 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Alfred Weston	Mary Agnes Bagnall
	💍 1887/1864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	30 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	87/3560
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England

31 March 1887

William Martin
Alice Worthington

William Martin
Alice Mary Jane Worthington
💍 1887/1742

Widower
Spinster

Miner

29 years
21 years

Queen St.
Hill St.

13 years
13 years

St. George's Church, Thames

87/3434

31 March 1887

Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	31 March 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Martin	Alice Worthington
BDM Match (82%)	William Martin	Alice Mary Jane Worthington
	💍 1887/1742
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	29 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Queen St.	Hill St.
Length of Residence	13 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	87/3434
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Evans, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).